From Times of Old
by TheGreatOnesApprentice
Summary: Fate is a complex thing, destiny even more so. Can it be changed?
1. Chapter 1

The store was nothing special. It was just a little produce store with only six parking spaces out front, on the side of a lonely road. The road in question wasn't very special either. It started at one of many small towns that you would come across in Maine, and continued off into a very long stretch of highway that went through miles and miles of forest.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and a gentle breeze rustled through all the trees that lined the road, creating a beautiful sound. Walking out of the aforementioned store while talking to her mother on her cell phone, Anita looked up and saw two young men walking down the street… the middle of the street, to be exact. Now, on normal occasion she wouldn't think much about it, chalk it up to dumb boys that think they own the world, and just keep walking to her car.

But this was not a normal occasion, seeing that one of them was in armor and the other one was dressed as a peasant from medieval times.

"Gotta go mom!" she said quickly. "No I'm fine! I just got to go! I'm going to be driving!"

Ending her call with her mother, she began walking toward the boys just as the blonde "Knight" proceeded to pull a sword out of his scabbard and point it at a car coming down the street towards them. As it got closer the blonde pushed the dark haired "Peasant" behind him as if to protect him. The peasant obviously didn't like the idea of being protected, seeing that he began talking to the knight (who had still not taken his eyes off the approaching car) with frustration. Anita was still too far away to hear what they were saying, but the fact that they were arguing was crystal clear.

The car screeched to a halt, seeing that the boys were standing right smack-dab in the middle of the road. The man inside the car looked in fear at the _clearly_ insane boy with the _very_ real looking sword pointed at his car, and obviously was at a loss of what to do! Immediately seeing the danger that the boys, and possibly the poor man in the car was in, Anita, not thinking, quickly ran to the boys and stepped between them and the car before the knight stabbed the car as he clearly intended to do.

"What do you think you're doing you moron?" Anita yelled angrily. "Do you have a death wish or something?"

The blond "Knight" was more than a little shocked at the young woman yelling in his face, and the "Peasant" behind him didn't look much different. The two boys watched in shocked silence as the young woman took charge of the situation, not even breaking stride!

Stepping between the two boys and linking arms with them, she smiled apologetically at the poor man in the car.

"Sorry sir!" she called, her brain scrambling for a legitimate excuse. "My cousins are _very_ devoted cos-players, and sometimes get carried away!" she spat out, her smile still in place.

Before the man could even think to do anything -let alone call the police-, Anita, both arms still linked with the two boys on either side of her, began to quickly pull them away from the scene towards her own car. She sighed in relief when she glanced back to see the man put his car in gear and just continue driving. Thank heaven this was such slow traffic road! If anyone else had seen this, she didn't know _what_ she would have done!

Once the trio reached her car, it finally caught up to Anita just how dumb of an idea that was! Jumping in front of a crazy man with a sword like that! One glance at the sword that the "Knight" _still_ had gripped in his hand, told her that it _was_ very much real. He could have impaled her! She could have died!

With all these thoughts running through her head, Anita's legs seemed to give out on her as she let go of the boys and reached for the door handle on her car. Before she could fall, the "peasant" boy grabbed her arm again and helped her lean against the car for balance.

"Are you ok?" he asked with concern, an English accent evident as he spoke. He was glancing nervously around every so often, as if expecting something to jump out at him. He was also looking at Anita's little blue car warily, as if _it _would turn and bite him.

"He's right," said the Knight, matter-of-factly, his focus just on the girl for the moment. "You don't look so well." Anita noted in the back of her mind that he also had an English accent.

Shrugging off the brunette's hand, Anita turned and glared at the blonde.

"I don't look well?" she asked, her glare never wavering from the blonde. "Well," she continued, her body tensing. "Maybe it's because I just realized how _stupid_ I was! Maybe it's because I realized that you could have killed me with one swipe of that sword of yours! You could have been a psycho murderer that just escaped from some institution somewhere! That would at least begin to explain why you are scared of cars, have no life experience, and why the heck you're dressed like **that**!" Throughout Anita's rant, her voice had slowly raised in volume until, once again, she was yelling in the blondes face. And he certainly didn't appreciate it; and he let her know it, too.

"I wouldn't have _killed_ you!" he yelled back, frustration and slight anger in his eyes. "You just helped us escape that…that… whatever that was! And I am **not** a murderer!"

"A-and!" interrupted the peasant, bringing the girl's attention to him and away from the other boy. "We may still need your help!"

Regaining her confidence, Anita backed up from the blond -not having realized that she had even moved forward-, leaned back up against her little blue car, and folded her arms across her chest. Taking a breath while gathering her thoughts, she then quietly began to speak.

"Ok." she started, looking from one boy to the other. "Lets start with a simple question. Who are you guys?"

"I'm Merlin!" answered the "peasant" after a moment, reaching out with a smile to politely shake her hand, which Anita graciously accepted.

"And I'm Arthur Pendragon, Prince of Camelot" responded the blond, standing tall and regal, just like anyone would think a prince should.

Anita sat silently, greatly hoping that they were kidding as her eyes still shifted from one boy to the other. But, after a few moments of silence, she released a long sigh while placing her face in her hands.

"You're serious, aren't you?" she asked deadpan, her hands muffling her words slightly.

"Yeeeessss. Why wouldn't we be?" Arthur asked, confused, glancing at Merlin then back to the girl.

"You mean to tell me, that you're _the_ Arthur. Like, _King_ Arthur? Is that what you're asking me to believe?" she asked incredulously.

"Well," Arthur corrected with a shrug. "I'm not king yet. I'm still crown prince."

Heaving a large sigh, Anita lifted her face from her hands and faced Arthur again.

"Ok, she started, putting her hands together in a prayer like position and pointing them at Arthur. "So lets assume you _are_ Arthur Pendragon. Then what are you doing here? _How_ are you here?" she asked in confusion.

"We were brought here by a powerful sorcerer." Arthur answered, glaring off into the distance for a moment before looking back. "And we're assuming he did it to get us out of the way, and weaken Camelot. The prince suddenly disappearing by magic is sure to cause fear among the people," he added with a grim look.

"Sooooooo… magic?" she said curiously. "That's how you got here?"

Arthur rolled his eyes and was about to spout out a retort when Merlin seemed to realize something and beat him to the punch.

"Can I ask _you_ a question?" he asked politely, slight worry in his eyes now that he was thinking about it. Receiving a nod from Anita, he continued. "Where _is _here?"

Anita was silent for a moment. Thinking that if these guys were telling the truth and that they really _were_ who they said they were, she didn't particularly want to tell them the truth. But, taking a deep breath, she dove into her explanation, praying that the boys would stop her and laugh, saying that it was all an elaborate trick and that she was stupid for believing them.

"You're… in Maine," she began. "It's a state, part of the United States of America. That's the country you're in by the way. And… it's about f-four thousand four hundred miles away from… Camelot."

"United States?" asked Arthur in obvious confusion.

"Four thousand four hundred miles?" asked Merlin, just as dumbfounded as Arthur was at her explanation.

"Yes." she answered quietly, looking anywhere but at them.

"There's more… _isn't there_?" Arthur practically growled, glaring determinedly at Anita for answers. "You knew who we were when we told you our names. It was like you'd heard of us before," he said suspiciously, watching her every move closely.

"Um, yes. There is more," she admitted softly. "I **have** heard of you before, from… history and mythology classes in school. You two are part of some of the most beloved legends of all time!

The tails of King Arthur and The Wi- um… Merlin… yeah." Anita wasn't sure why she felt like she shouldn't say anything about Merlin being a wizard… but she did. He hadn't said anything about _himself _having magic. But they _had _mentioned other people having it. So she didn't know what to think! So she just let it be for now.

"Legends?" Arthur inquired, either choosing to ignore her almost slipup, or missing it completely. "And how long ago did these legends take place?" Arthur asked gravely, finally beginning to see what Anita was driving at.

"Well, King Arthur supposedly lived during the sixth century…" she explained, pausing before continuing. "And it's the twenty first century now. So, if I figure correctly, that's… about fifteen hundred years ago," she finished quickly, but not so that they didn't hear her. You could tell by their faces that they'd heard her loud and clear.

The boys were deathly silent for almost a minute, trying and failing to understand what Anita was saying to them. So they were just silent. That is, until Arthur finally snapped.

"**Fifteen hundred years**?!" he yelled, his face swirling with disbelief and intense anger. What he was angry at _exactly_ was anyone's guess.

"That's impossible!" Merlin said with wide eyes. "Magic can't do that! Can it?"

"Apparently it can." Anita said quietly, watching the boys sadly. She was really starting to believe that they were telling the truth. "Cause here you are…"

"This is ridiculous!" Arthur cried, before saying accusingly. "You're lying to us aren't you? This has got to be some kind of sick joke!"

'Oh, that's it!' Anita thought, resisting the urge to give in to her bubbling up anger. "Why would I lie to you?" she finally asked quietly, looking down at the ground and still trying to keep her cool and not yell at Arthur… _again_. "I'm just trying to help you."

Surprisingly, Arthur calmed right down seeing her so quiet all of a sudden. He turned his head to look at Merlin, who was looking worried about the brave girl as well. With a deep breath, he took a few steps to close some of the distance between them and placed a hand on her shoulder, which caused her to look back up at him.

"I am sorry," he began with a sigh. "This is a lot to take in… for both of us!" He added, gesturing to Merlin with a chuckle. "I can hear the sincerity in your words, and I thank you for being honest with us," he finished sincerely.

Merlin was slightly surprised by the softness that came out of the prince. 'The prat never ceases to amaze me... sometimes.' Merlin thought to himself, smiling as Arthur managed to get a smile out of the brave girl.

Anita gave a small smile to Arthur as a reward for his words. Then, looking back and forth between her two new friends, asked one more question that hung in the air.

"How are you guys going to get back?"

Arthur and Merlin stared at each other, clearly thinking deeply. Anita watched them carefully gauging their reactions and facial expressions. She could tell that Merlin knew more about the situation then Arthur gave him credit for –or at least she highly suspected it; and that Arthur was at a complete loss for what to do.

"We don't know." Merlin said sadly.

"But we _will_ find a way!" Arthur quickly stated, his voice firm with determination.

Anita nodded in agreement with a smile, a real smile this time.

"You guys are going to need a place to stay!" she stated obviously. "I have plenty of room at my house, if you'd like?" she offered with a shrug, an easy smile on her face.

Her words clearly surprised the boys. Here was a girl that had just barely met them; and here she was, offering a nice place for them to stay, not even thinking twice! Her open generosity wasn't lost on the boys, and they graciously accepted her offer. After all, where else were they going to go?

After accepting Anita's invitation, there came the not-so-simple matter of getting them to climb in her car. Which she supposed that she could understand that, considering that they apparently hadn't ever seen a car before. Now, Merlin was _much_ more open to the idea once Anita gave him her personal assurance that it was safe; Arthur wasn't convinced. A short time later, and after some arguing, Arthur agreed to get in the car… until Anita told him he had to put his sword in the trunk.

"No." he said firmly, glaring at her.

"Yes!" Anita responded just as firmly, pointing at the sword. "I am _not_ having that thing in the front of the car! What if someone sees it?" she asked, with a look that clearly said 'are you a idiot?' on her face.

"Arthur, will you just give her the sword already?" Merlin cut in, just as exasperated with Arthur as Anita was.

Arthur glared shot to Merlin for taking the girl's side instead of his. He then turned to said girl, to see her standing determinedly with her arms folded over her chest, leaning her weight on one foot, and staring at him expectedly.

Heaving a large sigh, Arthur unbuckled his sword belt, wrapped the straps around the hilt, and slapped it into Anita's outstretched hand.

With an appreciative smile at Arthur, Anita walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. She reached in and pulled out a blanket that she kept there in case of emergencies and wrapped it around the sword before placing it carefully inside the trunk. Walking back to the front of the vehicle, she quickly explained to the boys how to open the doors, and climbed into the drivers seat.

She had Merlin sit up front with her, and Arthur in the back. After all, she didn't want to draw too much attention to them by having a guy decked out in full battle armor in the front seat for all to see! What if she got pulled over for some reason? Heck no! She did _not _need that. If it was closer to a comic-con, then that was one thing. But when it was this far? No. It my have been a silly fear, but Anita reasoned that with her luck, they were better safe than sorry.

She truly felt so sorry for the boys as she drove; every bump, pothole, and noise made them flinch; even the vibration of the car itself seemed to be making them nervous! She had explained the purpose of seatbelts and demonstrated their function earlier, and she was definitely glad she did, as that seemed to be the only thing keeping the boys together! They both gripped the seat belts across their chests like a lifeline, but with only one hand. The other hand was holding on tightly to something else. From what she could tell, Arthur was clinging to the edge of the chair, and Merlin gripped the armrest that sat between him and her.

Even though Arthur was obviously trying to hide his fear (which wasn't working,), she could still see it. Through the way his eyes were rooted to the back of her head rest, his tight lips, and his slightly irregular breathing, she could see that he was terrified.

Merlin's face was one of complete fear. His wide eyes shifted constantly from one thing to another outside of the car, and his fingers had a white knuckled grip on the armrest. Feeling her heart go out to him, Anita reached over and took Merlin's hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze. His eyes met hers, and some of the fear left his gaze, allowing him to squeeze her hand in return. If she could reach Arthur some way, she would've helped him too. But she couldn't, so she'd first help Merlin the best she could.

"Just keep looking at me, ok?" she said softly, glancing away from the road every so often to look at him. "Tell me about your family Merlin, your friends."

Merlin knew what she was doing, and he appreciated it. He began telling her about his mother, Ealdor, Gaius, and some of his fellow servants, making some of his fear slowly ebb away. And through it all, her hand never left his for a second.

Arthur wasn't easily impressed, but he found that this girl's kindness and compassion touched him greatly. The gentle way she spoke to Merlin, and his responses to her questions seemed to even help _Arthur _calm down. It wasn't too long before Anita included him in the conversation as well, calming him further. Yes, he definitely was impressed.

Thankfully, the ride was only fifteen minutes or so, so Anita didn't have to worry about the boys for too long. She pulled into the doorless garage of her little home and quickly parked and turned off the car, bringing a sigh of relief from Merlin and Arthur. Climbing out of the car, Anita walked swiftly to the back and pulled out Arthur's sword, walked back, and placed it in his hands.

"See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked with a grin.

"Oh no!" Arthur responded, his voice sounding higher than usual. He quickly cleared his throat before continuing. "Not bad at all!"

Anita choked back a laugh while turning around, not wanting to insult the prince. "This way!" she said quickly, unlocking and leading them through the door that lead into the house.

Her house was kind of smaller in size, nothing impressive. Just a little blue house, one of many off the coast of Maine; you couldn't even see any other houses because of the trees. The garage led directly into the kitchen and living room. Down the hall, were her father's office and her parent's bedroom. In the kitchen was a staircase that leads downstairs to the basement, which had a large room for TV, fun and games, and all that. That is where Anita and her brother both lived, in their respective rooms, of course. After explaining all this to the boys behind her, she finally turned to look at them, surprised at what she saw.

Merlin and Arthur were clearly amazed at her home. They both wandered around the living room, looking at everything. Merlin was in awe at the family pictures that adorned the wall. Each depicted a member of her family in different stages of their lives. Her mother, her father, her big brother Alex, as well as herself, were all there. Arthur was more interested in looking at the furniture and such. He let his hand run over the upholstery of the couch and the tops of the end tables, clearly awestruck at their craftsmanship. And the lamps that adorned the tables were obviously confusing him with their purpose.

Anita had never really thought much about her house and her possessions, but looking at the wonder on the boys faces really put things into perspective for her. How could she have forgotten? Where they came from, they had _nothing_ like this! Upholstered furniture, electricity, photographs, plumbing, and cars (to name a few), it was all new and spectacular to them. The house that once seemed small to her, with everything in it that once seemed average, now suddenly seemed like so much more than that, it was fantastic! With these grateful thoughts going through her head, Anita couldn't fight the happy smile that grew across her face.

Letting the two boys' wander, she quietly walked downstairs to the hall closet to find bedding and normal clothes for her two guests.

She opened the closet and pulled out one of the three mattresses there with a bit of difficulty. Before she could do anything else, the mattress was pulled from her grip. Turning, she came face to face with Merlin.

"Want some help?" he asked with a wide grin. He'd seen her walk downstairs and decided to follow her to see if she needed help or something.

With a laugh, Anita happily agreed. With two of them helping, it only took a little while to lay the mattresses out in her brother's room and put on the bedding. The clothes would be another matter.

"Where's Arthur?" Anita asked.

"Upstairs," he answered. Rolling his eyes, he continued. "Don't expect any help from the prat though!"

"The prat?" she asked with a laugh, cocking an eyebrow at the strange but amusing name for the prince.

Merlin simply grinned and laughed in response, not giving an answer.

Just then, the object of their discussion came down the stairs, making them try to compose themselves. The prince took one look at their faces, and asked deadpan.

"What is it?"

The mirth that they had been trying to hide, burst out of them in peals of laughter; Arthur's question combined with the look on his face making it impossible to hold it in.

"Don't worry about it Princy!" she gasped out between fits of laughter. She quickly composed herself, successfully this time, and cut in before Arthur could fully process and comment on the nickname.

"Come on! We need to find you some clothes!"

She led them into her brother's bedroom, and walked into the closet. Thank heaven he'd left so much of his stuff here! After digging through everything available, and occasionally making Merlin or Arthur try something on, she had a few outfits for both of them.

"Sorry they're a bit big on you Merlin," she said apologetically, tilting her head slightly to the side. "My brother was built more like Arthur!"

"Oh, no no!" he said with a smile. "It's fine! They're great, really!"

"Yes!" Arthur said, looking down at the strange clothes he now wore. They were strange, but comfortable. "Thank you again, for you kindness…um… uh..."

Arthur and Merlin shared a shocked look between them, before Arthur let out an awkward laugh and cleared his throat, while Merlin just looked around embarrassed. Anita finally realized what was wrong after a moment, and was appalled at her manners! There _was_ a lot going on… but still! How could she forget _that_?

'How did we not even think to ask her _name_!?' Merlin thought, mentally kicking himself.

"So…?" asked Arthur, looking at her expectantly with a raised eyebrow.

With a laugh at her own forgetfulness, Anita answered the question with a small bow.

"Anita. My name is Anita!"


	2. Chapter 2

Dinner was definitely an adventure. After getting the boys settled in with beds, and clothes -as well as official introductions-, Anita figured it was time to feed them.

'What should I make?' she thought to herself as she flipped yet another page of the cookbook on the counter. She was clueless as to what the boys would like. Plus, she hadn't _made_ a meal for three in a pretty long while!

"Merlin?" Anita called softly to the living room. "What kinds of foods do you and Arthur like?" she asked with a sigh, flipping _another_ page.

Merlin, hearing her call, got up from the couch he was sitting on and walked into the kitchen. Stopping just behind her, he looked over her shoulder at the book lying out on the countertop before her. From what he could tell, it was full of very detailed drawings of all different kinds of food! (The drawings even had color!) As well as what he could only assume, were directions on how to make them! And they certainly looked a lot more complicated than the stuff _he_ was used to eating! He glanced up to the open cupboard by Anita's head, and saw that she had _many_ other books like the one on the table.

Anita turned to look at Merlin, curious as to why he didn't answer her, and had to hold back a chuckle at the amazed expression that once again was on his face as he looked at her mother's cookbooks.

"Pretty cool, huh?" she asked with a smile and a teasing wink.

Merlin looked over to her with a big grin on his face, and he answered her question with a simple, but excited, "Yeah!"

"But, _again_. What do you guys like to eat?" she asked with a chuckle, lightly tapping the cookbook with her finger to remind him of the purpose of her question.

"Well," he started after thinking for a moment. "Arthur's the prince, so he's used to a higher quality food then say, the people in the lower towns. But don't let that intimidate you!" he was quick to say.

"Oh don't worry, I won't!" Anita assured, mentally rolling her eyes at the thought.

"And I'll eat anything you make, I'm sure it will be great!" he continued with a shy smile. "And I'm not as picky as that prat," he added.

Anita smiled at Merlin, then looked down at the book on the counter. It was her favorite book, and had all her favorites in it, so it didn't matter to _her_ what they had. But…

Turning to Merlin, Anita grinned and handed the book over to him and said. "Here, you chose what to have for dinner!"

"Really?" Merlin asked in disbelief, surprise and a little excitement in his eyes.

"Sure!" Anita replied. "Just pick something that looks and sounds good to you! And if I don't have all the ingredients, you can just pick something else."

"Ok!" Merlin said excitedly, taking the book and sitting in one of the chairs at the counter, starting to flip through the book.

Anita grinned at Merlin's enthusiasm about choosing dinner. Then again, he was a servant after all; he didn't _get_ to make decisions like that! As Anita closed the cupboard for now, a thought entered her mind.

"Hey Merlin?" she asked, turning to face him and leaning against the counter. "Where's Arthur?"

Merlin raised his head and rolled his eyes. "Downstairs, brooding."

"Brooding?" she asked, confused.

"Yeah," he sighed. "He does that when he's upset. He's trying to figure out how to get back to Camelot most likely."

Anita sighed. "Maybe food will cheer him up," she said quietly, glancing over at the stairs. While Merlin was deciding, Anita went to the computer that sat in the corner of the living room and started doing research on the middle ages, mostly food, so she'd have some idea of what the boys were used to. She knew it could only be _so _accurate, if at all… but it was worth looking into.

After a few minutes of silently flipping through the pages before him, Merlin looked up from the cookbook to Anita with a hopeful expression on his face.

"Can we have this?" he inquired to Anita, turning the book so she could see what he had chosen. He had no idea what it was, but it looked good to him! Anita got up from her chair and walked over the where Merlin sat, looking at the page he was pointing at, smiling brightly when she saw his choice.

"Linguine with marinara sauce and shrimp," she read aloud. "Great choice Merlin! I'll get started on it!" she said with a grin, taking the book and setting it on the table. She then stooped down to grab some pots and pans.

Merlin left for a moment to go check on Arthur and his "brooding". And whatever he said must have somewhat snapped Arthur out of it, because when Merlin came back, Arthur came with him. And that's when the adventure started!

Thankfully, they had everything they needed to make the dinner that Merlin had chosen. But everything that she did, from turning on the stove to heat the water, to taking the package of frozen shrimp out of the freezer to thaw in the microwave, caused a question to come out of the mouth of either Merlin or Arthur. 'How does it work? What does it do? What _**is**_ that?' Just to name a few. Anita tried to answer each question as best as she could, and with every ounce of patience she had. She wasn't even going to start about the fact that they were both constantly looking over her shoulder _the whole time_! It was almost as bad as the first time she had tried to make soup by herself; her mother was exactly the same! Except it was much, much worse in the stress department when her mother did it! She was just glad that Merlin hadn't even noticed what she had been doing when she was at her computer! She didn't even know where to _start_ with the questions that would have surely come!

Finally, when dinner was ready to be served, Anita asked Arthur to set the table.

"Think you can handle that Princy?" she asked with a smirk, only half teasing.

"I think I can do something as simple as setting a table," Arthur said with a glare. "Besides, why me and not Merlin?" he asked in annoyance. "I am a _prince_, and _he_ is my servant!"

"Not here you're not a prince!" she said firmly, surprising the blonde. "Here, you are no different than everybody else! Here, there are no princes, and _definitely_ no servants! So, you're right! You _can_ do something as 'simple' as setting a table! And Merlin will help me dish out dinner while you do it," she said simply, her look and stance telling Arthur he wasn't going to get out of this.

Figuring out that there was no use in arguing, Arthur grabbed the silverware he needed, as well as napkins and glasses, and set them out on the counter. Arthur turned and looked at Merlin smugly, proud of the accomplishment of his task. That is, until Merlin looked over his work and said simply.

"You did it wrong."

"No I didn't!" Arthur denied, an incredulous look on his face.

"Yes, you did," Merlin said. "This," he said, holding up a fork and placing it on the left side. "This is supposed to go here. Not there," he stated, gesturing to the right side of the place setting. "And the blade of the knife faces the plate," he added as an afterthought.

Anita didn't turn around; she just listened to Merlin correcting Arthur and tried not to burst into fits of laughter. She could hear Arthur grumbling as Merlin came back over to her side, but, nevertheless, she heard the clinking of silverware being moved as Arthur corrected himself.

'Well,' she thought as she poured the sauce, a little impressed. 'He's humble enough to bow to experience and correct his mistakes at least a little. That's something!'

Dishing up the last plate, she handed one to Merlin and carried the other two over to the counter, placing one in front of Arthur.

"Thank you for doing your part Arthur," she said sincerely with a kind smile.

Arthur was surprised at the soft words, but smiled in return anyway, throwing a smug look in Merlin's direction when Anita wasn't paying attention. To which Merlin just smiled resisted rolling his eyes.

If Anita didn't have the two boys hearts before, she certainly had them after their first bite of her cooking. Wide eyes and generous compliments were poured upon her for her skill, causing a wide grin to grow on her face from the praise. Though she was sure that the fact they'd never had a dish like hers was a great help to her supposed skills.

Dinner itself was a wonderful occasion. Arthur began telling her stories about all the quests and adventures that he and Merlin had been involved in, as well as some that happened _before_ Merlin even came to Camelot! Merlin occasionally cut in to correct something Arthur said, mostly when he called Merlin an idiot or coward. Merlin told some of his own stories as well, childhood in Ealdor with his friend Will, happenings with the servants of the citadel, and life with Gaius. Throughout it all, there was much laughter and joking from all around the table. Between tales of Camelot and the witty banter that the two boys shot back and forth to each other, Anita found herself watching them quietly.

She could tell that despite the way Arthur treated Merlin; they really were good friends. Not the best of friends, but really close to it. She also found herself noticing things that she'd had no time to notice earlier; such as how muscled Arthur was under all that armor, his gold hair, his chiseled jaw, his striking blue eyes, and that he was (surprisingly) a little on the short side. She then turned her attention from the prince to Merlin. Merlin's ears stuck out a bit, and were a little bigger then what would be considered average. His high cheekbones caught her attention as well. And his eyes, though a darker and stormier shade of blue then the prince's, struck her more deeply then Arthur's ever could.

On this train of thought, Anita was once again hit with the thought that Merlin knew much more than he was letting on to; but out of respect, she said nothing on the matter, letting him keep it to himself.

"What about you Anita? What about your family?" Arthur asked suddenly before taking a bite of bread, breaking her out of her reverie.

"Oh! Well," she started, thinking for a moment. "My mom and dad are good respectable people. My brother is a carpenter just like my dad -and he is also a good person. I have two uncles and three aunts, who all live in different states with their families, and all four grandparents who live about two hours away from here."

"That is _a lot_ of family," Merlin said, surprised.

"It's pretty common now a days," she replied with a smile and shrug, getting up to clear the dishes.

Merlin jumped up to help her, giving Arthur a "look" while he did so. Arthur rolled his eyes at Merlin's look, but grabbed his dishes anyway and brought them over to the sink for Anita to clean. Anita took his plate gently, not trusting him to clean it himself. She just wanted to be sure he wouldn't break anything, and according to Merlin it was a very real possibility!

Merlin insisted on helping in some way, so Anita happily complied by having him dry the dishes she washed, and putting them back in their proper place. They all continued to pleasantly chat until the job was done, with the occasional questions to answer about running water, electricity, and dish soap.

It was almost ten-o'clock when Anita looked at the time; it had definitely been a long day! Finding two boys lost in time, taking them in, teaching them about the future, and making them dinner; it had certainly taken it out of her, and it seemed like all of it finally caught up to her.

"Well," she said with a big yawn, stretching her arms above her head. "I'm going to bed. You guys can do what you want. You know, watch TV, or something."

Not turning around, Anita walked down the stairs slowly, debating weather or not to take a shower, or wait till morning. Since she had guests, she figured she probably _should_ shower, just for the sake of not smelling bad. Closing the door to her room she quickly stripped down, threw her clothes in the hamper, grabbed her pajamas to put on the counter, and stepped into the shower. She tried not to take too long, slightly worried to leave the boys alone for an extended period of time; adults or not, she still worried. So she tried to not let the hot water make her to comfortable, knowing that she just might not come out for awhile if she did.

When she was done she quickly dried off and pulled on the T-shirt and plaid pants that made up her pajamas. Opening up the door to the hall, she walked into her brother's bedroom to see Arthur sprawled across the mattress, looking out the window and into the night, a far off expression on his face. Merlin was sitting on the other mattress with his knees up to his chin; he was watching the prince out of the corner of his eye, obviously worried about him. When the girl walked in, Merlin looked up at Anita and smiled gently, tiredness clearly in his eyes. Both boys were wearing the pajamas they had chosen.

"You guys going to bed?" she asked softly, glancing at Arthur once before focusing on Merlin.

"Yeah, I think so," Merlin answered. "Will there be anything else sire?" he asked, turning to Arthur.

"Yes, Merlin," he said with a sigh, rolling over on his side as to not face the other two in the room. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Arthur," Merlin answered, slight sadness shining in his eyes.

Anita's heart went out to Arthur; he was obviously worried about his people, and probably his father. Who would want to be stuck out of their time period forever? Forever parted from their family and friends? Anita wanted to talk to Arthur and see if he would open up, but his stiff demeanor told her to just let it be for now.

"Goodnight," she said softly turning off the lights in their room and walking back to her own.

Anita turned off the lights in her room as she came in, walked to the bed, slipped under the covers and snuggled deep within the blankets. Thoughts of Merlin's mysterious behavior, Arthur's obvious worry of not being able to get back home, and her own questions about them ran through her mind. She needed to quit thinking about them, or she'd just be up worrying all night!

'I just hope that everything turns out ok,' she thought sadly, her eyes finally drifting shut.

Anita was suddenly awoken by some kind of rustling coming from the hallway. Glancing at the clock told her it was twelve thirty in the morning. Quietly slipping out of bed, she tiptoed through the door and peeked out into the game room.

To her great surprise, it was Merlin. He had changed into a pair of jeans and a hoodie, and was making his way towards the stairs.

"Merlin?" she whispered, stopping him dead in his tracks. "Where are you going?"

Merlin turned to look at her, trying to figure out what to say as he stared into the girl's eyes. Anita just tried to take in the deep wisdom and understanding in Merlin's eyes as he stared, though he kept looking away from her in possible embarrassment. She had a feeling that he wasn't just going to tell her what he was doing, and most likely would try to make up an excuse, so she decided to just confront him.

"Come on," she suddenly said firmly, taking him by the arm and walking him up the stairs. Reaching the living room, she sat Merlin down on the couch and shifted to face him. Taking a breath to gather her thoughts, she spoke.

"Merlin," she began. "You obviously know much more about this whole situation than you're letting on. For one, the fact that you've been playing dumb about magic when you yourself are a wizard is really confusing me!"

Merlin started at her words, his eyes widening. "You knew I had magic?" he asked in amazement, barely more than a whisper.

"It's part of the legends Merlin," she explained with a small smile. "The Tales of King Arthur and the _Wizard_ Merlin! I didn't finish the title earlier cause I didn't know if I should!"

"Wow," he said in awe. 'Does that mean Arthur finds out about my magic?' he thought to himself, scared but excited at the same time at the thought.

"So…?" Anita hinted, reminding him of her question.

"Oh! Right…" he remembered. "In Camelot, magic is banned. Those who are found practicing it are executed," Merlin said, staring down at his hands.

"What?" Anita said, barely keeping her voice in check, not wanting to wake the prince downstairs. "So Arthur really doesn't _know_ that you have magic?" It seemed her suspicious had been correct! Good thing she hadn't said anything!

"No," he said with a shake of his head. "And he never can know; at least, not for a long time. Not until he unites the land of Albion," he said, looking up from his hands and to Anita's face.

"Albion?" she questioned, cocking her head to the side in curiosity.

Merlin just smiled as he began to explain what he knew of his destiny to the girl beside him. He also (much to Anita's delight) began to tell her about all of the times he had needed to save Arthur with his magic. Magical shields, water enchanted to kill, and poisoned goblets were but a few tales he told. When he told her about a man named Lancelot, Anita excitedly told him that he was part of the stories she knew as well; she didn't tell him all that she knew about Lancelot, but she _did_ tell Merlin that Lancelot would indeed someday become a knight again. When Merlin told her about the "Healer" Edwin, and what had happened with him, Anita had pity on him and the revenge that he'd craved so badly; Merlin agreed wholeheartedly, not understanding his use of magic for evil. He told of the Sidhe, and how he'd saved Arthur from being drowned by them, as well as the magical staff that he now had in his possession. He told of Mordred (she didn't even comment on him. She didn't want to) and how painful that experience was for him; also, he spoke of the Great Dragon, and how he had helped Merlin many times. The Black Knight, and the challenge he posed to Arthur had Anita leaning forward in her seat; and the creation of Excalibur had her biting her tongue, not wanting to say anything! When it came up, she cried with Merlin over the death of his best friend Will, the experience still hard for him to talk about. The curse of the unicorn, and the tests of Anhora, the keeper of the Unicorns, had Anita wincing at the plight of Camelot. And finally, Merlin's fight with Nimueh, which resulted in her death, had Anita gripping a pillow with white knuckles. To be so close to losing either his mother or Gaius, both of them being his family, she didn't know if she could handle it!

After all of these stories were shared, Merlin then got quiet. He was amazed that he had told this girl so much about him and his destiny, after he had just met her today! But then again, she did already know about his magic. And it felt so good to finally _tell_ someone about everything that had been happening to him since coming to Camelot! About all that he had done for Arthur! But there was one more thing that he really wanted to get off his chest, something that had just been eating and eating at him. Seeing his troubled expression, Anita reached over and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Merlin?" she said quietly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said, looking down in his lap. "It's just…"

"What?" She asked, a worried expression on her face.

"It's Morgana," he sighed, his brow furrowing. "She betrayed Uther. She was angry with him for having Gwen's father, Tom, killed. He was caught helping a sorcerer, but he didn't know he _was_ one. Morgana tried to help him by giving him a key, and he was killed trying to escape the dungeons. So she made a plan with Tauren, a renegade sorcerer, to kill the king at her father's grave. When I overheard, I went to the great dragon to ask what I should do, and he told me to just let it happen! But I couldn't do it! I stopped three of the men with the Sidhe's staff, and when I went to go save Uther…

"What happened Merlin?" Anita whispered. Merlin looked up into her eyes, his eyes swirling with confusion and many other emotions.

"Morgana had already saved him," he finally said. "I don't know what made her change her mind, and I'm glad she did! But in the back of my mind I still don't completely trust her."

"I wouldn't either Merlin," she said gently, trying to assure him. "But unless she acts against the king again, you can't really _do_ anything. You just have to watch her and wait." She hadn't commented on any of the mentions of Morgana throughout all of Merlin's stories. Like with Mordred, Anita just didn't _want_ to comment. She knew the tales, and she didn't know if they would end up being true or not. After all, the tales didn't tell of magic ever being _outlawed_, at least not that she remembered. So maybe they wouldn't? But if she'd already betrayed him, what did that mean for the future?

Merlin nodded in agreement to her words, already knowing this, but it felt nice to hear it from someone else.

"The important thing right now, is getting you both back home," she said firmly, shaking thoughts of Morgana out of her mind.

"Yeah, you're right," he answered, giving her a small smile.

"What _do_ we have to do to get you back?" Anita asked, knowing he _at least_ had an idea.

"Well," he started with a sigh, folding his hands together. "Hadrian, that's the sorcerer who sent us here, couldn't have done this all by himself. He _had_ to have had help, someone on the other side of his spell to pull us through. If we find that person, then I think we'll be able to get back!"

"So if we find this sorcerer in my time, he'll be able to take you back to your time?" she asked with a tilt of her head. "Great!" she cried softly. "That shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"I don't know," Merlin answered honestly. "He _shouldn't_ be too far away. He couldn't be, he _had_ to be near to keep up the enchantment."

"So… you'll be able to sense him or something?" she asked, leaning back against the couch, not completely sure how the whole 'magic' thing worked.

"Something like that," he responded with a smile. "It's hard to explain!"

"Is that what you were doing when I caught you?" she asked with a smirk, stretching her arms up then entwining her hands behind her head. "Sneaking off to find the sorcerer?"

"Yeah, kind of," Merlin answered bashfully, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I'm really surprised you heard me though!" he said, with an embarrassed chuckle. "People don't usually notice me coming and going," he added with a shrug.

"Well," she said with a little laugh. "I've always been a light sleeper."

Glancing at the clock, Anita had to hold back a groan when she saw the time. It was almost four in the morning!

"Say Merlin?" Anita asked, exhaustion hitting her now that she knew how late it really was. "Since it's so early, how about we save the manhunt for tomorrow night? That is, if we absolutely _have_ to do it in the middle of the night."

"We?" he asked with surprise, staring at her.

"Well yeah," she said with a wink, getting up from the couch and facing him. "No way am I letting you have all the excitement by yourself!"

Merlin smile at Anita grew into a grin, truly glad for her help and friendship. He was a little nervous about her coming along, but for some reason, he felt that if he couldn't protect her, she'd be able to take care of herself much better than he thought she could. And with that in mind, they bid each other goodnight, hopeful about the next day that awaited them.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day _did not_ go as well as Anita and Merlin had hoped. With both of them being tired from their discussion the night before, the thought of running around the area all day looking for a sorcerer that was most likely deep in hiding made the outlook quite bleak. After all, all they could do right now was walk around while Merlin cast a form of 'finding' spell to locate the sorcerer. They couldn't _do_ anything until then.

Merlin had given Arthur the whole "Gaius had once mentioned" story once the prince had been open to talking, and explained that a spell that big had to have someone on the other side… meaning nearby. So now, Arthur wouldn't rest until they found him. Throughout the day, they drove in Anita's car, and walked for miles through the woods, looking and looking for the sorcerer. So needless to say, the day ended up just as long and tiring as Merlin and Anita had thought. And to top it all off, they didn't find a trace of the man they sought.

The next few days were not _too_ bad, but they all ended with the same result. Nothing. And the level of sleep deprivation that Anita and Merlin got to was not helping them with the search in the slightest. Anita was pretty sure that the sleeping spell that Merlin had been putting Arthur under every night -so that he wouldn't wake up while they were gone- was _really_ adding to his energy levels. On day five, Anita finally told Merlin that when they got closer to finding the sorcerer, _then_ they would go out during the night! But until then, she figured that they had both had enough for now, and Merlin wholeheartedly agreed.

Through all this time, Anita got to know the boys more and more, and she'd liked what she saw. Except sometimes she couldn't even stand _looking_ at Arthur, he could be so _arrogant_ sometimes! But, the prince _did _appear to have a good heart underneath it all. And he had the possible qualities of a real leader, if he would take the time to develop them. Merlin was one of the kindest souls Anita had ever met. And she knew a lot of great people! But Merlin was special. Anyone who really took the time to look could see that. But all in all, Anita found herself getting closer and closer to the boys, quickly considering them very close friends. Both boys also continued to learn from Anita about the future and all it had to offer, and they even got (kind of) used to riding in her car as they searched.

After nine days of searching with absolutely no results, Merlin finally felt something. They had been searching through the woods at that point. Arthur was far ahead and Anita was with Merlin, when the brunette suddenly stopped and looked to the left. Glancing up to Arthur, who had not noticed his companions had, just kept walking, getting farther and farther away. Anita then turned back to Merlin, confused at his behavior. Curious, she looked around him to try and see what he was looking at. Not seeing anything, she leaned back and just stared at Merlin for a moment. Just as she was about to ask what he saw, Merlin turned to face her… and his eyes were glowing gold!

"Do you feel something?" she asked excitedly, once the shock of his changing eye color passed.

"Yeah!" he said, sounding breathless all of a sudden. "Come on! This way!" Merlin called as he burst into a run with Anita hot on his heels. Anita felt a little bit bad for leaving Arthur by himself, but hopefully they were going to end this _now_! And that would make up for it… hopefully. They ran through the trees as fast as they could, Merlin occasionally changing directions as his spell lead them. Anita was glad that she was a born runner, or else she'd be dying right about now.

Merlin and Anita finally burst into a clearing and stopped, coming face to face with a man. He had a long dark coat, white shirt, dark pants and boots, as well as some kind of medallion that hung from his neck. He had long brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail, and had a hard glare on his face. When Anita had time to think about it, she would think later that he was actually very handsome.

The man had just been traveling through the woods when he'd felt someone's spell touch him and latch on. He'd had no doubt that whoever was casting it would be there really soon. So, he'd entered the clearing and just waited, ready for whoever had dared tracked him. When the girl and boy had ran in, he'd almost not _believed _that they were responsible for the magic. But then he really _looked _at the boy, and saw him for what he was. And he didn't want to risk anything.

Before Anita and Merlin could even react, the man stretched out his hand and yelled words that Anita couldn't understand.

Anita didn't even know how to describe the feeling of being lifted off the ground and thrown backwards by nothing. Well, it wasn't "nothing". Just, something she could _feel, _but not _see_. Some kind of force was the only way she could think of it. She few back and hit a tree behind her, making dots dance before her eyes; and Merlin really wasn't doing any better. Anita, in a daze, watched the man come over and stand over them with a smug grin.

"Not as tough as you thought you were, are you?" he taunted with a laugh.

"Who… are you?" Merlin groaned, his head still spinning.

The man laughed. "I am Galindor!" he said with a smirk. "I'm impressed that you found me, you have quite the luck! But… you're luck has run out!" With that, Galindor raised his hand and opened his mouth to casts a spell. But just as he started to speak…

"Maybe it's _your_ luck that's run out!" Arthur yelled as he swung his sword at the sorcerer.

Galindor whipped around and threw Arthur back with a motion of his hand and flash of his eyes. He then grabbed the jewel on the medallion he was wearing, and yelled out yet another spell, the words echoing through the forest.

Arthur got back up almost immediately after being thrown, and ran back toward Galindor. He let out a yell as he ran at him sword at ready.

The wind seemed to start surrounding the sorcerer, kicking up dirt and leaves so much that Anita had to shield her eyes from it. She couldn't even see the Galindor anymore. But she thought that she saw Arthur run up to the whirlwind and swing his sword into it. Then, just as suddenly as it started… the wind stopped. As the dirt settled, Anita rubbed her eyes and looked to the clearing, shocked at what she saw. Or more like, what she _didn't _see. Galindor was gone... They had _finally_ found him, and yet they had nothing to show for it! He had disappeared, just like that! Anita wanted to hit her fist on the ground out of frustration, and apparently Arthur felt the same.

"Where did he go?" Arthur yelled angrily walking over to see if they were both all right.

"He's gone." Merlin said with a groan, getting up from his back and off the ground. Merlin then turned to Anita and helped her up off the ground as well.

"Why didn't you call me?" said Arthur, looking at the two like they were idiots.

"We did!" Anita lied, easily faking it. "You're just deaf as a mule!" she finished with a scowl, dusting herself off.

Merlin and Arthur started debating/arguing about what to do next. The argued about how to find him again and what it would entail. Merlin reminded Arthur about how long it took them to find him the first time, to which Arthur claimed that it should be easier to find him _this_ time. Merlin suggested that they return to the house and continue tomorrow, to which Arthur said that as long as there was daylight they could keep searching! Merlin asked _where_ they would look, and Arthur said that he had some idea (which really meant he had no idea…). And finally, Merlin brought up the fact that he was a sorcerer, and that they had no way to fight him, to which Arthur argued that if he was sustaining the spell that kept them here, he must be weaker than usual!

Anita had been leaning back against a tree and watching the whole thing, while also trying to ease her pounding headache. When the arguing got a little heated on Arthur's part, Anita stepped in.

"You know," she started as she rubbed her temples, "we could make a compromise. We'll keep searching until nightfall, _then,_ go back to the house, and then try again tomorrow. Okay? So can you both stop arguing so loudly and be calm now?" she finished her proposition with a sigh, their arguing was _really_ not helping to lessen the pain that felt like a hammer banging around in her head!

Merlin nodded silently, and after a few moments Arthur finally did too. They did indeed look till nightfall, and then some! But Merlin and Anita eventually got Arthur to leave the woods.

Back at the house, Arthur was disheartened by the day's events, and Anita and Merlin both tried to make up for it over dinner. Anita had made fish and baked potatoes, and the boys complimented her for the meal as always. They eventually got Arthur to laugh a few times during the meal, and he was thankfully in better spirits by the time the all went to bed, much to Merlin's relief.

At about twelve thirty in the morning, Anita woke up and got dressed before walking out to the game room where Merlin was waiting for her, holding her bag out for her to take.

"Ready?" he asked quietly, giving her a small smile.

"Ready!" she answered excitedly, taking the bag from his grasp.

By this time, they were both experts at sneaking out of the house (and the sleeping spell on Arthur helped considerably). So it didn't take long to get out, climb into her little car, and quickly take off down the highway.

"So what's the plan Merlin?" Anita asked curiously, glancing from the road over at him. "Can you feel him?"

"Yes," said Merlin, answering the last question first, "When my magic touched his, I connected with it, so I can find it better now that I know what I'm looking for." Looking out into the night and letting his magic scan over the surrounding area, Merlin gave the directions, "Just keep going down this road until I tell you to stop." Merlin then turned to her and smiled. "And here's the plan. I've got a spell that will bind a lot of his powers, not all of them but some. And it takes some _very_ particular circumstances to break it!"

"So when you cast the spell," she mused, thinking on what he said for a second, "you'll know what he has to do, and when he tries to break it… we can head him off!" Anita said brightly.

"Yeah!" Merlin said with a grin. "It's going to be dangerous though," he said, his smile slipping a bit.

Anita didn't waste any time stopping Merlin's train of thought. "Merlin!" she said firmly, "I am going with you! I can take care of myself, so you don't have to worry!" she said with a small smirk. Merlin simply nodded in agreement, giving up the fight.

Merlin didn't tell Anita to turn for a good fifteen miles, and when he did, he told her to stop only a little ways up the small dirt road. She parked swiftly and turned off the car, locking it behind her.

"We'll walk from here," Merlin whispered in her ear. "Come on."

They walked for almost an hour before reaching a clearing with a small shack sitting in the middle, the trees casting strange shadows everywhere from the moonlight. Merlin had told Anita his plan on the way, and the part she was going to play in it. So with a nod from him, she walked out into the clearing for all to see, about ten feet away from the shack. 'Merlin better _really _know what he's doing!' she thought before taking a deep breath.

"Hey!" she yelled towards the shack, hearing a crash like something breaking after she did. Sounded like she'd surprised him. Good! "Still think my luck is running out?" she called with a laugh, her voice echoing through the trees. "Cause I found you, _again_!"

Galindor opened the door and stalked out of the shack, stopping only about two feet away from her. "How?" was all he asked, glaring down at her darkly.

"That's _my_ secret," she said, looking up at him with a smirk. She hadn't realized just how _tall _this guy was! "Point is, I found you, so what are you going to do about it?"

Galindor raised his hand towards her, about to cast a spell, when Anita heard Merlin yell something from the edge of the tree line, and Galindor was thrown back. He hit the ground with a hard thump, groaning horribly.

When he made a move to get up, Anita, once again not thinking, darted forward and punched him clean in the face, sending him back to the ground with a grunt. When he didn't move a muscle, Anita grabbed her fist in pain, and winced at the throbbing.

Anita turned as Merlin came sprinting out of the trees, coming to a stop at Galindor's side. Kneeling down next to him, Merlin held his hand a little above Galindor's chest, and began speaking in a language that seemed to awaken something deep within Anita. Something deep and mysterious, that made her heart pound, and her adrenaline start to pump through her veins. Anita looked over at Merlin's eyes, taking in the gold color that glowed there, and was amazed to see the same glow shining through Galindor's eyelids when she looked down.

When the spell was finished, Merlin took Anita's hand and pulled her up from her kneeling position, snapping her out of her reverie. "We need to go before he wakes up!" he said quickly, pulling her towards the trees. Glancing back at her with a grin, he laughed. "Nice hit by the way!"

Anita tried to hold back the blush that wanted to come. "Thanks," she said with a laugh, keeping up with him now that she was focused.

They ran almost the whole way back to the car, gasping for breath by the time they got there. They both stopped and leaned against the car for support, letting their strength catch up with them.

"You did it right?" Anita asked trying to catch her breath. "Cause if you didn't, I'm going to smack you!"

Merlin laughed at her threat, making him cough from lack of air. He then stopped and forced himself to breath before answering. "Don't worry, I did it!" he said. "Now we just have to wait until the time that the spell has to be broken! Then we'll have him trapped," he assured.

"Great!" Anita said with a sigh, "then let's go home."

The duo climbed into the car quickly, and started on their way back, silence shrouding the car for a good seven miles before it was broken. "Merlin?" Anita asked finally, slightly worried. "How are we going to explain to Arthur how we know all this? I mean, we have to explain _a lot_ of magic stuff."

Merlin sighed and thought for a moment before answering. "I'm still figuring that part out," he admitted embarrassedly.

"_Great_!" Anita said, holding out the 'a' to extenuate her statement. "Good luck with that!" she added with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah…" Merlin sighed, knowing that it wasn't going to be easy. "We'll see how that goes."


	4. Chapter 4

Anita woke the next morning to see Arthur looking down at her, arms folded. "What the heck are you doing in here Arthur?" she asked with a yawn, rubbing her eyes slowly, still very groggy from sleep. Not waiting for an answer, she rolled over, turning her back to him, hoping to go back to sleep. Maybe if she ignored him long enough he'd leave her room.

Arthur rolled his eyes before scowling. "Merlin made breakfast, he said it's ready, and I'm hungry," he said annoyingly, smirking at the groan that Anita made when she rolled over to face him again.

"Breakfast?" she asked, stifling another yawn while starting to pull the covers off. "Merlin made breakfast?"

Arthur nodded with a smirk. "So are you coming or not?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," she groaned, getting out of bed to pull up her hair before following Arthur up the stairs.

"Good morning!" Merlin said with a smile, turning to look at her as she walked in, holding a plate in one hand and a spatula in the other.

"Morning Merlin," she said with a smile, holding back yet another yawn. She and Arthur sat down at the table, seeing that everything was already set out and that Merlin had everything under control.

"Thanks a lot Merlin!" Anita said with a grateful smile as he set the plate in front of her, looking down at what looked like sausage, eggs, and toast. "You really didn't have to do this!" she said.

"You're welcome!" Merlin answered with a slightly shy smile. "And I wanted to! You've made every meal since we came here, I guess this is my way of thanking you a little."

Anita nodded in understanding, her heat warmed by Merlin's kind act. Sometime into the meal, Arthur complimented Merlin on the food, but added as an afterthought that it wasn't as good as Anita's would have been if she'd cooked instead, which triggered a comeback from Merlin.

After some witty banter, Merlin finally broached the subject of Galindor, making Anita hold her breath.

"Arthur," he started, placing his hands flat on the table. "All last night I was thinking about Galindor and the spell that is keeping us here and-"

"_Mer_lin," Arthur interrupted with a sighed of exasperation, running a hand through his hair. "You know what I told you about _thinking_!

"Just listen!" Merlin said firmly, his eyes intense. "Sometimes, spells this big need to be strengthened multiple times during its casting. And they have _very_ specific rules on how you do it. One of those rules is to stand between two bodies of water during a full moon, and chant the spell that makes you stronger." It wasn't completely a lie.

"Merlin! How do you even know this?" Arthur asked, a confused, annoyed, and slightly worried expression on his face.

"Well," Merlin paused, shrugging. "Gaius tells me things that he thinks I will find interesting, and that happens to be one of them!" And that was _also_ not completely a lie.

Before Arthur could rebuke Merlin or ask how _Gaius_ would know such things, Anita quickly interrupted. "Arthur, I don't see why we shouldn't try!" she said determinedly, leaning forward in her seat. "After all, what do we have to lose? We don't have any _other_ leads!"

"Even if we did go after him and do what Merlin says, _how_ are we supposed to know where he's going to go?" he asked incredulously.

"I know a place like Merlin described, that's how!" she said proudly. "Well, at least I think I do," she said, cocking her head to the side. Turing to Merlin, she asked, "Does a lagoon count?"

"Merlin smiled. "I think so, if it's big enough!"

"It's almost sixty acres, and the ocean is on the other side! Is that big enough for you?" Anita said with a laugh. "When would we have to be there?" she asked.

"When the moon is at its highest," Merlin replied.

"Great," Anita said with a smile, "Midnight. Easy enough!"

Arthur looked at Anita in surprise_. 'Could this really work?'_ he asked himself thoughtfully as he listened to the conversation. _'Anita is right about one thing, we don't have any _other_ ideas,'_ he thought with an inner wince.

While Arthur was thinking, Merlin asked Anita more about this place that she knew. "How far is it from here?"

"It's about an hour west of here, its called Roque Bluffs," she said simply. "Just getting there is an adventure in and of itself, because it's really out of the way. It's a pebble beach with a huge lagoon behind it and beautiful views. There are walking trails that go through the forest, and the whole place seems so … untouched. The only things there are some picnic tables, bathrooms, and changing rooms. My family used to go there all the time when we had a day to spare," she remembered wistfully. Snapping out of her reverie, Anita smiled at Arthur, "What do you say Princy?" she asked, hoping he'd give this plan a chance.

Arthur gave a level look at Merlin and Anita in turn before answering. "If you're sure about where we're going Anita, and _you're_ sure you have your facts straight Merlin, I suppose it couldn't hurt."

"Yes!" Anita cried with a fist pump to the air, bringing a laugh from her two companions.

Merlin grinned. "I guess it's decided then!"

Arthur nodded in agreement. "We're taking the fight to Galindor!"

It was a few hours later when Anita was sitting on the back porch with her elbows propped up on her knees, her chin resting on her entwined hands, staring out into the horizon. 'What's going to happen tonight?' she thought to herself, worried about what might go wrong. She may seem positive and confident on the outside, but on the inside, she was very wary of this whole thing. 'If we do actually defeat Galindor… what happens then? What's going to happen?' she thought nervously.

"Are you okay Anita?" Merlin said worried, surprising Anita with his sudden appearance. She hadn't even heard the door open, or at least she hadn't been paying enough attention to notice the noise.

"Merlin!" she cried with a jump, he hands coming down to each side of her to steady herself. "You surprised me!" she said, turning to face him with a smile after catching her breath.

Merlin wasn't an idiot, no matter how many times people said he was, so he could tell that Anita was worried about something. So, sitting down beside her, he simply asked. "You know you can talk to me about anything that's bothering you, right?" He stared into her eyes purposefully. "I know that you probably have better friends then me to talk to, but it's the least I could do after you've shown us so much kindness."

Anita sighed, wishing Merlin hadn't noticed her distress. "Yeah Merlin, I know."

Merlin stared at her for a little longer, waiting for her to say more. When nothing came out, he sighed and said. "So? What is it?" he said simply, hoping to nudge her into an explanation, but not wanting to force her either.

"I'm just a bit worried about what could happen tonight," Anita sighed. "What if you get hurt, Merlin? Or Arthur? Or worse! What if you can't get back? What then?" Each question tumbled out one after another, Anita not able to hold them back once she started letting them out.

Merlin had suspected that Anita was more nervous then she appeared, but he had thought that she would have been worrying about herself, not him and Arthur! Was there no end to this girl's kindness and concern?

"No one can tell what might happen," he answered carefully, glancing down at the ground for a moment. "But I know that if we do this right, we will succeed!" Merlin said firmly, not wanting any doubts to worry Anita too much.

"Are you really sure about that?" she asked softly, looking away to stare at the breathtaking view of the ocean.

"Yes, I am," Merlin responded with a bright smile.

"Then that's good enough for me," she said softly, turning back to Merlin with a smile, telling herself to trust in Merlin's judgment.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, each lost in there own thoughts until Merlin broke the silence.

"What are you going to do when we're gone Anita?" he asked softly, glancing over to her to see her reaction to his question.

"I was thinking of packing up my suitcase and going to a friends for a week or so. I don't really want to be alone yet," she answered quietly. But not wanting Merlin to worry, she attempted to lighten the mood a bit. "I've gotten too used to having you and the prat around I guess!" she said with a laugh.

Merlin felt bad about leaving Anita alone. Because a few days ago, Merlin asked Anita about _her _family, seeing that she knew all about his and Arthur's families, but they knew nothing about hers. She'd explained that her father had a lot of business trips all the time, and now that she and her brother were grown up and could take care of themselves, her mother went too, leaving Anita home alone quite a lot. But she was quick to assure him that her mother called her almost every other day to check on her, and her father called once a week to ask how she was doing. Her brother lived a long ways away, but called once or twice a month to talk about life with her, and Anita said she loved Alex and her parents very much.

"That will be nice," he said finally said simply, pushing his last thoughts to the back of his mind.

"Yeah," she said simply, turning back to the view, the sunset absolutely gorgeous, making the sea look like it was a pool of liquid fire before it would soon all become dark.

Dinner was spent planning and re-planning; looking over maps of the beach and surrounding areas, and tracking what routes they would take to accomplish their tasks. Making sure everyone was on the same page, and that everyone knew the plan forward, backward, and every other way possible. And to put it lightly… it was so solemn that Anita wanted to hide in a hole to wait it out. Heck, it pretty much had killed her appetite at this point.

"So, does everyone understand?" Arthur asked for probably the third time that night.

"Yes," Merlin and Anita responded in perfect unison, having gone over this plenty of times.

"Alright then, I think we're ready," he said with a confident smile.

"Great!" Anita said. "I'm going to finish packing then, okay?" she asked, looking for any excuse to get away from the tension.

Getting a nod from both Merlin and Arthur, Anita got up from her place at the table and made her way downstairs to finish her task quickly. Well, she said finish. But the truth is that she never started, which was all the more reason to get it done quickly.

Looking around her room, Anita wasn't really sure what to pack. She didn't even really know how long she was going to be gone. It all depended on how long it took her to get used to the boys not being there. After a lot of thought, Anita decided not to take any clothes, her friend Janice was the same size and was used to letting Anita borrow her stuff. 'That takes care of a lot of space,' she thought to herself. After about half an hour Anita had packed a couple of books, her photo album, her mp3 player, her Swiss army knife, and her lighter. Emptying the contents of her purse into the backpack as well, like her phone, money and stuff like that, Anita figured that was all she needed. It wasn't much, but almost all the necessities _would_ be at Janice's house, so Anita just didn't bother with anything else.

But, just in case, Anita looked around her room once more to see if she should grab anything else. Her eyes settled on her desk, so as an afterthought, Anita grabbed an old looking journal and added it to her bag. Anita had always loved old things, and had bought the journal for that quality. 'Just might come in handy," she thought to herself. Pulling her backpack over her shoulder, Anita climbed the stairs and set the bag on the floor next to the garage door so that she wouldn't forget it later. Going to the living room, Anita threw herself down onto the couch, her legs lying on top of Merlin's before she settled comfortably in her sprawled position. She'd seen him sitting there, but didn't care, knowing that he wouldn't mind either. Arthur, who was sitting in the chair by the window, just rolled his eyes and chuckled at the sight.

Nothing much more was said for the next few hours; Anita even fell asleep for a while much to her happiness. The boys attempted some small talk, but gave up quickly, the weight of what they were about to attempt keeping the tension at a steady high.

Finally, at almost eleven o clock, Merlin gently woke up Anita. Gathering their things, they all made for the car.

Anita stopped just inside the door, turning around and just looking, taking it all in. 'Why do I feel such a sense of dread?' she asked herself silently. 'I feel afraid… like I'll never see this place again…' Anita shook her head slowly, taking one final look at her home before turning and walking out the door and firmly pushing down the dark icy feelings in her heart. 'But that's just silly,' she thought, following the boys. 'Of course I'll see this place again!'

"It's beautiful," Merlin breathed, looking around as they walked to the edge of the tree line. They all crouched down in the bushes, not wanting to be seen if Galindor should appear earlier then expected.

"Yeah it is," Anita agreed, taking in the way the moon reflected off the water, and the way the breeze made the plants sway back and forth.

"Alright," Arthur started. "Let's go. Split up and take your positions!" he said, giving a nod to his companions and going off in one direction while Merlin and Anita silently nodded to each other and went their own ways.

"Here we go," Anita mumbled to herself as she adjusted her light backpack, making her way through the thicket as silently as she could, reaching down and grabbing good-sized stones along the way and putting them in her pockets.

Arthur's plan was simple. Merlin had figured just where Galindor needed to be… approximately anyway. So they had decided on three places that each of them would be that surrounded the area. When Galindor is sighted, they were all to surround him and Arthur would attack. Merlin and Anita would just there as back up, in case something (which something probably would) went wrong.

Merlin and Anita's plan was a bit more complicated. They needed to follow Arthur's plan, up to the point of Arthur going up against Galindor alone, then _their _plan came into play. Anita was supposed to "aid" Arthur and create a distraction, so that Merlin could use his magic without being detected. Merlin just needed to knock out Galindor, and then they could work out how to break the spell that bound the boys here to this time. Once he was under their control, that is.

The trio was all settled in their positions, now playing the waiting game for Galindor.

Anita looked at her watch, straining her eyes to see just by moonlight. 'We got here at about eleven forty. And it's eleven fifty nine now. He should be here!' she thought, looking around the clearing. Somewhere around the clearing, the boys were thinking the same thing as Anita. Where was he? Just when Merlin thought he might have made a mistake in his recollection, Galindor arrived.

Galindor stepped out into the clearing, obviously anxious. That little brat, Arthur's servant Merlin, had cast a binding spell on him. How on earth did that idiot prince not realize that his manservant had magic? Was he really _that_ dense? Galindor shook his head at the thought, getting back to the present. He wasn't powerless, but he was pretty close to it. So he'd been carrying around a sword with him, not able to trust his magic to save him in an emergency. He knew what he needed to do to break this spell. It was very strong, but it was still common… Or at least the general way of _breaking_ _it_ was common. He planted his feet and raised his hands, one on each side towards each body of water. He then looked up towards the moon above, letting the light shine over his face, and started to chant the ancient words of power, begging for freedom from this spell from the Triple Goddess.

From deep in the tree line, Anita shivered when Galindor started to speak. Once again the power seemed to vibrate through the air, causing her heart to pound again. The wind started to pick up, and the sound of the sea seemed to become deafening. Snapping back to reality, Anita waited for the signal, hoping once again that all would go as it was supposed to.

Arthur was sneaking through the trees, making his way to the best spot available to attack the sorcerer. He crouched down carefully in the shadows of the trees, evaluating the situation with the precision of a battle savvy soldier; or prince, as the case may be. Galindor's eyes were closed, and he seemed pretty in to what he was saying. So, hoping Merlin and Anita were ready, Arthur attacked.

Merlin watched Arthur burst out of the trees, his own position still not revealed. Galindor turned in the middle of his chant and pulled out his sword to block Arthur's in a matter of moments. It then became a full on battle, Arthur and Galindor both fighting desperately for the upper hand. Watching carefully, Merlin made his way through the trees, staying out of sight of the two fighters. 'Time for _my_ plan,' Merlin thought to himself, watching the fight intensely.

Arthur was honestly expecting Galindor to be inexperienced in the art of swordplay, him being to reliant upon his magic… but Arthur could see now, that was not the case. Swing. Swing. Parry. Swing. Block. Dodge. Block. Block. Swing. And so it went on, the two men trapped in a dance of blades.

Anita crept closer, resisting the urge to just sit back and watch the fight in amazement. But focusing herself firmly, she tried to be as silent as possible as to not alert the two fighters to her position. She knew she only had a certain amount of time to act before Merlin started the spell that would alert Galindor of Merlin's presence immediately. Reaching into her pockets quietly, Anita pulled out one of the many rocks that she had gathered along the way to her spot, weighing it in her hand carefully, glancing back and forth at the stone and the fight.

'I have to be exact with my shots!' she thought to herself, frowning at the stone in her hand. 'I can't hit Arthur, or he's dead!'

Standing up in the shadows, Anita got ready to throw and watched for an opening. 'There!' her mind yelled out to her as she pulled back and let the stone fly through the air. She didn't hit where she was aiming, but she still hit her target solidly.

Galindor grunted as a hard 'something' hit him on the shoulder, making him take a desperate swing with his sword to get Arthur to back up as he caught his balance again.

Arthur jerked back from the swing, taking a defensive stance against his opponent. 'What am I going to do?' he wondered to himself. 'I can't get in a good hit! And what about those rocks? Who's doing that?' he wondered in frustration.

Meanwhile, Anita was winding up to throw yet another stone at the sorcerer, letting the rock fly after finding another opening. She crouched down in the shadows right after the stone left her hand, not wanting to be seen and possibly have some kind of freaky spell thrown at her and kill her or something of that sort.

Galindor whipped around after the second stone hit. Rage filled his eyes. Who dared interfere with this? This plan that took so long to prepare?! '_They will die!'_ he thought, his eyes flashing gold despite his earlier worry of conserving energy for the breaking of the binding spell. He would end this!

With a yell, Galindor shoot out energy behind him with terrible force. Throwing Arthur back from the sheer power of the spell, causing a shout of surprise to come out of the prince. He would get rid of the little nuisance of a girl now! He was _sure_ that _she_ was the one throwing stones at him. How pathetic.

Anita didn't even have time to react before the wave of energy hit her. She screamed as the energy threw her back, through the air and to the ground. She still hadn't completely recovered from her first encounter with Galindor's magic, so this time was even worse. Dots flashed at the edges of her vision as her head spun from the force of the fall. Her body felt so sore… so weak. It hurt all over… she just couldn't force her body to get up!

From his spot in the darkest edge of the tree line, Merlin's heart stopped when he heard Anita's scream. Galindor had hit her! _'No!' _Merlin thought in horror, fear for his friend's safety gripping his heart with a terrible hold. Merlin's eyes started to glow gold as he started to whisper a spell of the most ancient and powerful kind, his power finally being allowed to manifest in this new world. It was time.

Anita had failed; or at least she thought she had. Galindor was probably going to defeat Arthur, especially if he had so much more power left then they'd thought! How else could he have done _that_ under a binding spell? _'What can I do?'_ Anita thought as she managed to turn her head towards the noise of clanging swords. She could see through the bushes now… Arthur and Galindor were still fighting, and Arthur wasn't gaining the upper hand! He couldn't hold out forever! She had to do something!

Arthur was thinking about the same thing. He could hold out for quite some time, but certainly not forever! His fighting had picked up when he'd heard Anita's scream, his anger at Galindor and concern for the girl making his swings more precise once again. But he had to do something, and soon! But until he could think of something, he was trapped in the heat of battle with this sorcerer. Swing, parry, dodge, block, and swing again. It would never end it seemed, at least not until one of them fell to the others sword.

Just when Galindor thought he'd finally gotten the upper hand, and was about to defeat his enemy forever, something changed. It was magic he felt! _'Merlin!'_ he thought, his rage building and making his attacks towards the prince all the more vicious. "You will **NOT** **defeat** **ME**!" Galindor suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, his eyes glowing with magic and rage. Arthur thought he was talking to him, but he was really talking to Merlin, and the young man in question knew it too.

But Merlin didn't care. His magic was awake now, and nothing would stop him from protecting Arthur. After all, it was his destiny, and nothing could stop that! So with an intense look on his young face, Merlin just kept chanting the spell as Arthur fought for his life.

Galindor was so much better at swordplay then Arthur had thought. He was getting tired now, and he couldn't find his one fatal blow! His thoughts slammed to a stop when Galindor managed to knock his sword out of his hand. He was going to die. Arthur just closed his eyes, knowing in an instant that he wasn't going to live through this blow. He'd failed to get home to Camelot. He had failed.

Why wasn't the spell working faster?! Merlin was frantic, trying so hard not to panic and throw off the spell further. Was he just not strong enough for this enchantment? Was it too late now? Was the timing wrong already? _Why wouldn't it just work?! _Merlin watched, helpless as Arthur lost. He'd failed Arthur. He'd failed his destiny. Galindor's shields were just too strong, making the spell take longer to get through his original enchantment!

Galindor yelled out a vicious battle cry, victory inevitable now. He would kill prince Arthur, and there was nothing Merlin's magic could do about it! His power was too weak! **He. Had. Won!**

Galindor raised his sword high before plunging it down.

Then he stopped, as he felt his body jerk. Pain ripped through his body. He looked down to his chest, where the pain was coming from.

There was a sword. It was _Arthur's_ sword. 'How..?' Galindor choked out, blood starting to drip from the corner of his mouth as he looked down at the prince, whose eyes were wide in shock. He heard breathing behind him, so the bleeding man craned his neck to see who was there.

It was the girl…Anita… she'd lived through his attack. And she had killed him when his attention was on the prince. He had lost. He had been defeated. Then for the powerful sorcerer, everything went black, and he never again awoke in this world.

Arthur watched with wide eyes as the life left Galindor's eyes, and he fell forward off the sword that had gone through his heart from behind. Arthur rolled over so the body wouldn't fall on him, and when he looked up, actually expecting to see _Merlin_, his eyes widened further when his eyes locked with _Anita's_. _She_ had killed Galindor.

Anita just stared with wide horrified eyes at the bloodstained sword in her hands. She'd managed to crawl out of the bushes, despite her swimming head and pain filled body. She'd seen Arthur's sword, and had originally planned to just get it to _give _to the prince, so that _he_ could give the final blow. But… she had been to slow to do that. And she had ended up with no other choice but to end the sorcerer herself. She had killed a man; his blood was on her hands. He was dead… but _that_ meant-

Merlin had just made it out of the trees and was calling Arthur's name, when the rumbling started. Merlin's eyes widened in fear as he started to run to his two friends, knowing what was happening and not wanting to get left behind. "Anita!" he called, right beside her and taking the sword from her shaking hands in moments. "You did it! You stopped Galindor and saved Arthur!" he said, hoping she'd hear the good in his words.

The young woman looked up into Merlin's eyes, still wide and horrified. "But I _killed_ him, Merlin. I killed someone," she whispered brokenly, clinging to him desperately.

"I know Anita, it's terrible," the black haired boy said back, the ground starting to shake harder. "But you saved Arthur!" he said again, handing the bloody sword over to Arthur who was now standing up.

Arthur took the sword and nodded in agreement, solemn gratitude in his eyes. "Yes Anita, I owe you my life, and I will never forget it!" Arthur looked around the shaking taking on a more violent turn. "Merlin! What's happening?" he asked, yelling above the thundering noise.

"The spell was broken when Galindor was killed! He was all that was keeping us here, since he was one end of the spell!" Merlin answered, also yelling. He clung to Anita to keep her upright, her body still shaking from shock. "It was such a powerful spell, it's causing the earth to shake!" Merlin was silent for a moment before turning to Anita and hugging her to him even tighter. "Thank you for everything Anita! I wish I had more time to tell you that you had no other choice then killing Galindor, but we don't. The spell is collapsing, so we will be pulled back anytime now!"

"Yes, thank you Anita," Arthur said sincerely, hugging the shaking girl as well. "We will never forget you and what you have done for us! You have been the truest of friends and ally to us."

Anita's eyes filled with tears as she hugged the boys back. "I'll miss you two so much!" she cried, still shaking.

"We'll miss you too," Merlin whispered. And that was one of the truest statements he'd even said.

Merlin thought that it would be a simple transporting spell… but he was so wrong.

The thundering and shaking came to a head, the sound deafening as the earth seemed to _split_. The trio all fell to the ground, as the earth seemed to open up into a terrifyingly large _pit_, and started to _suck them in_ by the air rushing out of it.

Merlin yelled out in shock, as did Arthur. But both their hearts froze when they both heard Anita scream.

The boys both rolled over and looked back, seeing Anita was getting dragged towards the whole _with_ them! "Merlin! What's happening? Why is it taking her with us?" Arthur yelled.

"Help me!" Anita was screaming in terror. "I don't want to go! I can't leave! What about my _family_? NO! I can't **go**!" She continued to scream as she was getting closer and closer to the pit, only a little farther away than the boys. She remembered the feeling she'd had, as she'd left her house… She'd felt like she'd never see it again. Now she knew why.

"I don't know!" Merlin yelled in answer to Arthur's question. But the moment after he did, it dawned on Merlin _exactly _why Anita was getting taken with them…

_Three_. There were three brought from Camelot. Merlin, Arthur… and _Galindor._ So three must be brought back as well… Which meant Anita had to take Galindor's place! There was no way for Anita to escape it. By killing Galindor and saving Arthur… Anita had condemned herself.

"Hold on Anita! Don't let it pull you in!" Merlin called, wanting for the girl to somehow get away from this, not lose her world, and still be happy after meeting him and Arthur! He wanted her to be happy!

"I can't help it! It's pulling me in too hard!" she cried, tears running down her face. She was going to be taken, and there was nothing she could do. She heard Merlin and Arthur call out to her, the sound echoing. She whipped her head around to see them, and realized with horror that they'd been sucked into the pit… just like she was going to be.

She just kept screaming, praying that someone would just suddenly show up and somehow help her escape this! But she knew it wouldn't happen… it couldn't. So Anita just prayed, and asked God to comfort her parents when they found out their little girl was missing. And to give them closure when she was never found. Tears ran down her face still, as her legs were not touching ground, and she was sucked in so fast she could barely register the circle above her filled with stars… getting smaller and smaller until everything went black. Then, back on the surface, it was gone, the hole closing up as fast as it had opened… and Anita was gone.


End file.
